


Just A Rather INDEPENDENT System

by AteanaLenn



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AI taking action, Artificial Intelligence, Awesome Jarvis (Iron Man movies), BAMF Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Gen, JARVIS takes the wheel, JARVIS will protect Mr. Stark's people, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), set during the invasion in Avengers I, that's what Mr. Stark would do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 12:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15073490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AteanaLenn/pseuds/AteanaLenn
Summary: The Avengers are taking care of the aliens, but who will protect the civilians in the meantime?JARVIS uses the best tool at his disposition: technology.





	Just A Rather INDEPENDENT System

**Author's Note:**

> This thing has been on my drive for over a year, and I stumbled upon it recently and got all emotional over it all over again, so here we go :D  
> Beta-ed by the amazing [LavenderLotion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LavenderLotion). Thank you so much!!! ♥♥  
> All remaining mistakes are mine!  
>  _(edited on 2019/05/05 for typos and tense problems)_  
>  -

Sir once said that you sometimes have to jump before you run. JARVIS decides that this is probably a case that applies. Ask for forgiveness, and all that.

So JARVIS sets things in motion.

A large part of his consciousness stays into contact with Sir, while Iron Man takes on an alien army falling from a portal in the sky.

But helping Sir drive the armor barely uses a fraction of JARVIS's processing speed. So he gets rid of all non-essential programs, shuts down all of Sir's non sensitive projects, and turns his attention to the Tower.

The priority is and always will be Mister Stark. Which extends to his projects, money, offices, and yes, employees.

It's mid-afternoon on a weekday, when JARVIS locks down the building, takes control of the lifts, and turns on the loudspeakers.

"Your attention please," he says in his usual calm voice. In times of stress, the person taking over the leadership must stay calm, most studies agree. "As some of you probably have discovered, there is an attack currently happening in New York. Iron Man and a team are taking care of the matter. However, it is dangerous to go out in the streets. There is already much damage done to the buildings and roads, and people in need of help. The Tower has been built to withstand earthquakes and yes, attacks as such, because Mister Stark is a public person with enemies. Here are your orders," he informs the humans in the building, talking a bit louder to make himself heard over the panicking. "You'll evacuate the lower level which are mostly glass walls. No need to court danger. Guests and civilians are to find a person from security and follow them.”

The people are already quieting as JARVIS explains his plan. Having a goal makes humans focus, he has noticed over the years. 

“Employees will form up the teams arranged during fire training. Follow your leaders calmly and quietly. In Mister Stark's own words, “it would take a nuclear attack on the Tower to do any significant damage”. I assure you that you are more protected here than anywhere else in a ten kilometers radius. If you know anything, you know that Mister Stark's creations can be trusted."

He would scramble the wireless reception, to keep his humans from panicking about the alien attack currently happening just outside their walls, but it would probably do more damage to their moral. Also, they'll need the link to the outside world, for what he's planned.

JARVIS watches quietly, as teams are formed and people gather together in worried groups. Most of them are level headed and organized. After all, it's a requirement to work with Stark Industries. JARVIS takes note of which are looking halfway ready for a panic attack. They will directed to less stressful work. He has more than enough work for all of them.

Humans are slow to act, especially when they are in large numbers, JARVIS is aware of that. It's why, in the ten minutes he gives them to form their groups, he's already turned his powerful attention to something else.

NYPD and SHIELD, with the help of emergency services and those of the army present on the ground, are blocking roads and evacuating civilians. JARVIS cannot do much for the whole of New York. However, he can certainly do much for the few blocks surrounding the Stark Tower.

In a two blocks radius -for now anyway-, JARVIS takes control of communications. 

He hacks wireless networks and broadcasts on TV and sends mass text messages. He starts a Twitter hashtag and creates a Facebook event touching all those located near the Tower.

He notifies dozens and dozens of people that yes, an attack in currently happening, but so far the streets around the Tower are free. And the Tower is much more fortified than the old buildings around it. Please, make your way to Stark Tower, the Stark employees will direct you to the protected underground levels for the duration of the attack.

Dozens of panicked people start pouring out of their buildings, all running toward Stark Tower. As much as they -everyone- like to criticize Mister Stark, he's still a symbol of protection. And everyone knows that Stark-built objects are always more powerful and safer than any others.

-

Meanwhile, JARVIS directs his own troops.

"I want volunteers -volunteers only!- on ground level, the first floor, and the first underground level, to direct people to the relevant locations. Use your Starkpads and smartphones to record your position. I have uploaded an app on your devices. It is the very bare bones of an Emergency planner and scheduler, it will be updated several times during the day. Keep your eyes on it and keep your devices charged."

A few hundred screens light up in the Tower as people scramble to check the app that JARVIS has just built. Power cords and extensions cables are whipped out by dozens of tech passionate employees, who would rather be caught without pants than with a phone at less than thirty percent of battery. 

JARVIS turns the building's arc reactor back on. The device on the roof is already self powered, anyway.

"The first three underground levels are to be cleared immediately of any sensitive information. Use the managers’ offices to lock up any important tools and store all work laptops and such. The volunteers on ground floor will direct the civilians currently on their way to the tower to sit quietly in those underground levels. They will wait out the attack in a safe place. Check the app's map to see the elevators schedule and to direct the civilians to their assigned room/office."

JARVIS increases the building's wireless bandwidth, as hundreds of apps are turned on and employees start slotting themselves in the available positions with GPS and planners. The algorithm distributes the Stark employees where they will be the most useful, using their employee data and current location. 

Over half of the employees are marked as knowing first aid. JARVIS makes a note to have the remaining employees circled through training too. 

A quick search has employees with knowledge in psychology and known passions which requires level headed self control, flagged in his database. JARVIS uses his cameras to confirm those observations. 

A moment later, dozens of people receive notification of their status being raised to “group leader”. Some are dispatched to lead the lower level, a couple per open space for now, to direct their teams to take care and coral the civilians.

People from outside are already pouring through the Tower's entrance sliding doors. Security and first response volunteers are directing them to the elevators marked for civilian carry. JARVIS' subroutines update in real time the capacity of the elevators and creates a constantly moving planning, to get as many people down, in a steady schedule. The lower levels have already been cleared of sensitive data. Stark employees are spread out and ready to direct the civilians. 

It's been less than half an hour since the attack started. 

Stark employees are efficient and quick to react. This quality, required for hiring, has never been more important.

-

A new tab is created in JARVIS’ app, an inventory this time. 

The Tower's current medical supplies, other than the first aid boxes, which have been sent underground to take care of the civilians, with all the herbal teas which could be found in various offices. 

Cookies and cakes and various food items are also flagged to be moved to the main open space chosen as supply center. Healthy civilians need to be kept calm.

Wounded civilians need to be helped as much as possible with their current level of expertise and supplies.

Downstairs, dozens of screens start broadcasting cycling messages in the open spaces.

'If you have  _ food supplies _ with yourself, please direct them to the Stark employees over-seeing your room, to be added to the current stocks and inventory. They will be distributed in order of emergency.'

'If you have* _ medical supplies _ with yourself, please direct them to the Stark employees over-seeing your room, to be added to the current stocks and inventory. They will be distributed in order of emergency.'  

And again about water, and pillows, and blankets, and “talents”. So far, water is still running and the electricity won't be a problem, but there's no knowing how long the siege will last nor the health levels of the civilians which will keep on joining the Tower.

JARVIS keeps broadcasting his welcome message farther and farther when passage is safe, as the closest buildings slowly empty and the Tower slowly fill up. 

He adds some power capacity to the subroutines currently taking stock and tracking people all other the floors.

-

A new tab is opened again. Stark pads and smartphones are passed around. 

Civilians register their names, ages, potential health problems, if they're missing someone in the crowd, their current location in the tower. If they have any skills (medical, food related, their professions).

An hour and a few minutes after the beginning of the attack, half a dozen nurses and doctors are directed to the levels where a makeshift hospital is being built. 

Teachers, educators, sports coaches, all those used to dealing with crowds, especially children, are relocated to help Stark employees deal with panicked civilians. 

An open floor is transformed into a nursery. A writer of children stories narrates tales in a corner. In another, makeshift cots and safe cribs are created. 

In another meeting room, JARVIS streams the Frozen movie on the big screen.

-

The app is updated and employees receive notifications that they are shuffled to another place. JARVIS turns on the loudspeakers again.  

"Underground level two will be triage. Underground level three for non life threatening wounded. Underground level four will be a surgery theater. Civilians will be sent from now to the first medical levels. Twelve cases of trampled victims, one broken leg, two broken arms. Nurses and doctors have authority over Stark Employees. Please, keep your Stark device at hand. ETA on the first victims of the attack: twenty minutes from now."

People scramble. Voices rise up and orders are given. Civilians are shuffled in elevators and taken to the downstairs level. 

On the ground floor, the arriving crowd does not thin up. Volunteers are added up to the roster, but Stark employees are calm and focused. They have orders, they have goals, they have the tech to accomplish those goals. 

They deal in humans and maybe life or death time limits, but apart from that, it's a day at work in Stark Industries. They have found their footing. Those more sensible or less level-headed have already been shuffled downstairs, in quieter open space, away from the stress and the windows.

-

JARVIS hacks emergency communications. Several more phones and wireless networks. A satellite or two. 

Civilians running, lost in the streets as explosions boom overhead and buildings are hit left and right, stumble in their directionless flight as their phone turn themselves on and a shrill beep warn them of a received notification. 

Maps loads up on their screen, without any input of their part. Safe paths are highlighted, directions are given to Stark Tower. 

Some cry in relief. More pull others up and forward, as they have a new goal and shelter in mind. The planned “paths” are long and winding, but the roads are safe and dangerous places are cleared labeled and warned on the hacked maps.

-

"This is JARVIS speaking," he says in the loudspeakers of an ambulance. 

They have nowhere to go, the roads to the nearest hospital are blocked, and several wounded civilians are stuck in the back with their ambulance drivers. 

"Follow your GPS, the Stark Tower is currently receiving wounded and civilians alike. When arriving to the tower, turn on your phones and connect to the app which has been downloaded. Follow the directives and you'll be lead to safety."

He doesn't wait for them to answer, taking control of the car and revving the motor as they stutter, until they take the hint and move.

To some others, he gives the same speech, but different. "There is no safe path by car, please take your phone for directions, and push your patient's stretcher along the marked path. Emergency services have been notified and if they are able, security will join you on your way. The path should be as safe as possible, please make your way immediately, and take as many medical supplies with you as possible."

People boggle and stare open mouthed at their phones, tablets, GPS, the closest TV, but in the end, they obey.

-

The app is uploaded to the emergency service. 

The police and SHIELD and firefighters look down as their phones bleep. 

Notifications that the Stark Tower is receiving civilians and wounded leave them with eyebrows up to their hairline. Maps marking the move of the aliens, current hot zones, and places where civilians are stuck, lit up in different colors. 

It's barely an hour and half  into the fight, when JARVIS starts talking to New York's regular defenders.

"Stark Tower is open to refugees. The closest blocks around the Tower were safely evacuated before the fight moved too close. I would appreciate if a team could be sent near the Tower, as refugees are still coming in. I am starting to have trouble finding them safe passage. A makeshift hospital has been set up. If you cannot access regular hospitals, send them to us, we have space, but limited supplies and medical personal, so far."

There's grumbling at first, especially about the forceful app installation and hacking of the loudspeakers. Then the app warn them of incoming aliens and they shut up and start protecting again.

-

Some way away, Director Fury contacts Iron Man and notify him of the incoming nuclear warhead.

JARVIS calculates trajectory and collateral damage. The loss of life numbered by the simulations are unacceptable. 

Orders are given at the Tower to shuffle the healthy civilians farther underground.

Mister Stark runs numbers to push the warhead up the portal.

Miss Romanov exclaims that she can close said portal. 

JARVIS tries to contact Miss Potts.

A too short time later, JARVIS loses contact with the Iron Man armor. Errors start to crop up through his programming, as his sensor register the nuclear explosion. He corrects them when possible, ignores them when nothing else can be done. Mister Stark's employees are still in danger, as well as the now hundreds of civilians still pouring in the Tower. He cannot falter.

-

The aliens warriors and transporters fall lifeless. JARVIS recalculates all trajectories for emergency services and fleeing civilians, taking into accounts roadblocks instead of potential attacks.

One surgeon, a Dr Strange, is dispatched to the medical levels. JARVIS works with the closest hospitals to evaluate which patients need to be shuffled around. 

Stark helicopters are fired up, now that the sky is clear, and the worst wounded are loaded into them in quick order, and sent to hospitals. They come back to the Tower, loaded up with extra nurses and low import patients. Once the neediest are taken cared off, JARVIS directs them left and right, to gather wounded registered into the app by the emergency services who can't get them closer or are too critical to wait. Those whose status is still “non life threatening” continue to be sent to the Tower, to free up hospitals.

-

There's a bleep in JARVIS' program. He investigates, because it almost seemed like the armor had tried to reconnect. 

It's a false alert, there's no Iron Man linked to the system again. 

JARVIS is an artificial intelligence, he doesn't sigh or cry or curl up in a corner. 

Miss Potts contacts him and he sends her information about the Tower's current status. He is too busy to talk to her, he thinks to himself, as he goes over their current supplies and needs with the brand new head of the "supply room".

At the same time, he reviews the situation with emergency services, while shuffling the helicopters' orders when an influx of grave wounded throws a hospital into chaos once again. 

He still doesn't come close to overloading his own servers, but he's certainly trying hard enough. Mister Stark wouldn't be happy, he thinks, then ignores it. He's alone to make decisions now, with Miss Potts of course.

-

SHIELD is already knocking at his metaphorical door, asking leading questions about his programming and exactly how sentient or _sapient!_ this AI is. 

JARVIS ignores them, then orders unoccupied low ranking SHIELD agents around, shuffling them to help free up the roads so emergency services can pass through. Stark Tower only has so many helicopters. 

Fury rants at first, then throws his hands up and tells his employees to obey Stark's HAL 9000. 

JARVIS would be peeved if it came from anyone else. He does make sure to nip that habit in the bud. His name is JARVIS, he tells the agents, and they will find an app uploaded on their phone. Please, deal with the spots currently marked as problematic on the map that just opened by itself on the phone.

-

He's glancing at the Tower's stock level, when the bleep happens again. Except this time, it holds, and lasts, and suddenly Mister Stark's voice resonates through the loudspeakers, swearing at his armor as it fights him while he tries to reconnect with his AI. If he had been made of flesh and blood, JARVIS would have probably felt faint. As it is, he merely smooths out the spiking in his network and reports.

"Welcome back, Sir. The Tower is still standing and undamaged, with the exception of the top levels. It's mostly cosmetic damage. I have taken the liberty of re-purposing the lower levels," JARVIS explains simply, calling up schematics, and past and live feeds on the Armor's visor.

"Damn babe, been busy, haven't you," Mister Stark says. 

JARVIS can hear the smile in his voice, but he keeps the visual on anyway. The arc reactor has more than enough power to support speech and visual feed at the same time, he reasons. 

"On a scale from one to ten, how nuclear is Fury?" Mister Stark sounds worried. 

"It has been dealt with for the time being. Everything is under control," JARVIS answers automatically. Then he hesitates. "Though I suppose it would probably be a solid nine, if such a scale existed, Sir."

"So proud of you baby, running on Fury's nerves just like a true Stark." Sir's laughing, and yet JARVIS can hear the truth, in his words, when he speaks of pride. "Alright. What about Loki? You got him on any camera?"

"Prince Loki battled with the Hulk in the penthouse during the attack. He has yet to move from the crater in which the Hulk left him afterwards. I calculated that he posed little danger to the civilians located at the bottom of the Tower."

"Good to know, J. And not at all suspicious. Well, we're headed your way, we'll take him off your virtual hands. Prep the back entrance for us, and keep up the good work, you're doing great."

"Thank you, Mister Stark."

JARVIS might run a bit smoother since Sir has reconnected with him again, but it's probably a ghost in the machine. After all, he's a state of the art Artificial Intelligence created by Tony Stark. He is fully independent. And yet...

New York is still standing, the Avengers are all alive, and JARVIS has a lot of work still on his plate. He updates the app one more time, and listens with pleasure as the humans in the Tower cheer and rejoice. The battle is finished, Mister Stark is victorious once again, and all of the humans under his responsibility are safe and being taken care of.

**Author's Note:**

> Why does this fic always makes me want to cry? It's not even really sad! lol  
> Please leave a review on your way out :D ♥


End file.
